The report, which was commissioned by Police Scotland following a crush outside Celtic Park last year, also highlighted a need for better stewarding and better engagement with fans.

However, Deputy Chief Constable Mark Roberts, who was tasked with compiling the report, says overall the current policing of Scottish football is fit for purpose.

His team looked at operational planning for matches, intelligence gathering and allocation of police resources on match days.

‘Urgent attention’

Dep Ch Con Mark Roberts told BBC Scotland news: “Some of the examples that were quoted do give rise for concern and I think it does require a degree of urgent attention.

“I would like the Scottish government to look at the framework to make sure people are properly discharging their responsibilities.”

He did take some positives from the findings.

He said: “I think the reassuring thing, if there is something to come out of it, is that we saw individuals from the SPFL, from the SFA, really going above and beyond their remit, identifying the risk and working with Police Scotland to try and put measures in place to stop it happening.

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“So what you have is lots of professional, competent people, committed to Scottish football, trying to make a system work but they are not being supported by a system.”

‘Policing can improve’

Speaking about the report’s findings, Det Ch Con Will Kerr said: “Most of the recommendations are very positive when it comes to the policing of football matches.

“As a senior police officer, I find that reassuring.

“But there are a number of specific areas where policing can improve but the issue of stadium safety has been subject to quite a lot of public and political commentary over the last number of days.

“The regulatory regime in which ground safety is considered is outside the remit of policing.

“But we all have a collective responsibility to make sure we address the one thing that I know fans would be concerned about when they read the report and that is, is it safe to go to grounds?

“I am confident that in the vast majority of cases that will be the case.”

Publication of the report comes as the government and football authorities continue to debate issues such as coin throwing and sectarianism.

Concerns over the issuing of safety certificates have been raised by the Football Stadium Officers Association (FSOA).

A FSOA spokesperson said: “We identified a lack of consistency among local authorities in the discharge of their responsibilities as to the licensing of stadiums – specifically the issue of safety certificates.

“We have raised these concerns with the Scottish government, Cosla and the relevant football authorities.”

Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) president Alison Evison said the body takes the licensing of stadiums “very seriously”.

Community safety

She continued: “We have a strong record of safety on football events activity.

“Scotland’s councils engage with partners to ensure the protection of our local communities who attend football matches and other events across the country.

“We treat our community safety role with high priority.

“Going forward if there are improvements identified of course local government and Cosla will work positively with partners to find solutions.”

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Media captionCeltic apologise after fans crush at Old Firm match

Paul Goodwin, of the Scottish Football Supporters’ Association, said fans should be told how strict safety checks are at individual grounds.

He told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “We deserve the right, as customers, to know what grounds have got issues.

“A lot of this comes back to the overall issues within the game, in terms of governance and transparency.

“Fans don’t like to be thought of as customers, but sometimes if you draw it back to that conclusion, we deserve to know what the status of the places were are visiting are.

“If you were going to a theatre or going to a bar or any other entertainment venue, you would expect those provisions to be in place.”

‘Worry and panic’

One person was taken to hospital and four more were injured during the crush at Celtic Park on 2 September last year.

The incident happened about 20 minutes before the 12:00 kick-off against Rangers, as Celtic supporters tried to make their way into the stadium.